Endless conveyer, including movable cutoff and culling means in its feed structure



Dec. 21, 1948. p v, w rr 2,456,760

ENDLESS CONVEYER, INCLUDING MOVABLE OUIOFF AND CULLING MEANS IN ITS FEED STRUCTURE Original Filed March 11, 1943 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 VEN TOE f 25 PAUL V WHITNEY,

HTT'Y Dec. 21, 1948. p, v -w 2,456,760

ENDLESS COIWEYER, INCLUDING MOVABLE OUTOFF AND CULLING MEANS IN ITS FEED STRUCTURE Original Filed March 11, 1943 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 UNITED [STATE Patented Dean, 1948 ENDLESS CONVEYER, INCLUDING MOVABLE CUTOFF AND CULLING MEANS IN ITS FEED STRUCTURE Paul V. .Whitney, Columbus, Ohio. assignor, by

mesne assignments, to The Jeflrey Manufacturing Company, a corporation of Ohio Original application March 11, 1943, Serial No. 478,781. Divided and this application January 27, 1944, Serial No. 519,834

1 Claim.

This invention relates to a conveyor of the type which has a substantially totally enclosing working leg and also preferably a totally enclosing return leg.

An object of the invention is to provide an improved feed section for a conveyor of the abovementioned type which will prevent damage to the conveyor casing or the chain and flight conveyor mechanism, particularly when material having large granular particles, such as coal, is conveyed by the conveyor.

Other objects of the invention will appear hereinafter. the novel features and combinations being set forth in the appended claim.

In the accompanying drawings,

Fig. 1 is a side elevational view of the conveyor incorporating the features of my invention;

Fig. 2 is a sectional elevational view of the feed and foot sections of the conveyor;

Fig. 3 is a sectional'view taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2, looking in the direction of the arrows;

Fig. 4 shows a modified form of feed section as compared with that of Fig. 2;

Fig, 5 is an enlarged detailed side view of a portion of the feed section control mechanism of Fig. 2;

Fig. 6 is a sectional view taken on the line 6- of Fig. 5, looking in the direction of the arrows;

Fig. 7 is a sectional view taken on the line l----'! of Fig. 4, looking in the direction of the arrows, with parts broken away;

Fig. 8 is a perspective view of one of the conveyor chain links and integrally formed flights;

Fig. 9 is an enlarged combination plan and sectional view showing the shearing tool adjacent the opening of the working leg which is illustrated in section in Fig. 2 of the drawings;

Fig, 10 is an enlarged sectional elevational view of the tool of Fig. 9;

Fig. 11 is an enlarged sectional view of the tool adjacent the opening to the working leg illustrating the modification of Fig. 4 of the drawings; and

Fig. 12 is a sectional view taken on the line |2I2 of Fig. 11, looking in the direction of the arrows.

This application is filed as a division of my co-pending application, Serial No. 478,781, filed March 11, 1943, for an improvement in a Conveyor, now Patent No. 2,438,083, granted March 16, 1948 Referring particularly to Figs. 1, 2 and 3 of drawings, it will be seen that the conveyor of my invention includes a casing 20 comprising a plurality of interconnected sections including a foot secton 2|, a feed section 22, intermediate horizonta and vertical or upright sections which.

are connected together by a curved section 23, and a head section 2|. The casing 20 provides a generally L-shaped construction, and casings of this general type are well known in this art and, as is well known, the principal portions of the casing are constructed to provide a working or conveying leg or run 25 and a return leg or run 26. Through the upright sections and through the principal part of the curved section 23 the two mentioned runs 25 and 26 are formed by providing a centrally disposed partition 21 in a. substantially totally enclosing rectangular tube or housing.

As illustrated, the horizontal section as well as the feed section 22, is constructed to make the working run 25 and the return run 26 formed thereby as separate casings by virtue of the fact that there are two spaced-apart partitions 28 and 29 forming the bottom of the return run 26 and the top of the working run 25, respectively.

Running through the working and return runs 25 and 26 of the casing 20 is an endless-chain conveyor mechanism 30 which is formed. by a plurality of chain links 3! having formed thereon-1. integral solid flights 32. If desired, the flights;

32 may be made skeleton type.

As illustrated in Fig, f the drawings, each link 3! is provided at one end with a male pivotal joint 33 and at the other end with a female pivotal joint 34. As clearly illustrated in Fig. 2

of the drawings, the chain conveyor mechanism 30 is formed by connecting successive or alternate links 3i, with the flights 32 of the successive links extending on opposite sides of the axis ofv travel or, in other words, the longitudinal axis of the chain formed by the connecting links 3|, said. links, of course, being connected by pivot pins which extend through the female pivotal joint 34 of one link and the male pivotal joint 33 of the. next link.

As illustrated particularly in Fig. 2 of the drawings, the direction, of travel of the conveyor chain 3| is as indicated by the arrow, and through the working leg 25 the outer and leading edge 35 of each flight 32 is positioned adjacent a wall of the housing forming said working leg 25. For ex- .ample, during the upward travel of the conveyor formed by links head sprocket 36 which is The link 3| is spaced with respect to the side edges of the flight 32 at substantially the center of said fli ht. As a consequence, the chain 3| will travel substantially along the center lines of both the working run 25 and the returnrun 26 out of contact with the casing, and this is helpful to prevent binding by compresslon of material as the chain travels around the curved section 23.

It is further to be noted that each flight 32 only extends to one side of the link 3|, but, as clearly illustrated in the drawings, each flight 32 preferably extends the full height of the link 3|, as viewed-.in Fig. 8 of the drawings, for example. That is, if the flight is laid on a flat surface, as illustrated in Fig. 8, not only will the bottom of the link 3| contact the flat surface, but so will the bottom edges of the flight 32.

The plane of the leading Or top face of the flight 32, which is the conveying face, preferably forms an acute angle with the axis of the link 3|, and this plane is parallel to the pivotal axes of both the male and female pivotal joints 33' and 34. In view of the construction of said chain 3! and flight 32, as above described and as clearly illustrated in Fig. 2 of the drawings, it is evident that successive and alternate flights not only extend onopposite sides of the axis of travel of the chain 38, but that the trailing or inner edges of successive flights 32 overlap each other and each crosses the longitudinal axis of the chain 3!. As a consequence, the material which is within the working-leg does not form any straight continuous column, or, in other words, it is impossible to move through the working leg 25 along a straight path except, of course, as such may be provided by clearance between the edges of the flights and said working leg, n the other hand, it is obvious that no flight :32 alone substantially fills the cross-sectional area. of the working leg 25, or, in other words, each flight extends laterally only partially across the workingleg and returri leg 26. There is therefore a continuous but zig-zag or sinuous path of jjmaterial which under normal conditions will extendjthroughout the working leg 25. This makes a non-positive type of conveyor mechanism :36, even though each of the flights is alone solid asdlstinguished from the skeleton type. The advantages of this arrangement are that an extremely simplified construction is provided which under extreme conditions, will. permit relative movem nt between the conveyor mechanism and the material being conveyed, comparable to that aitorded by the well-known skeleton flight construction.

The conveyor mechanism 30 runs between a driven by an electric motor 31, both associated with the head section 24, and a foot sprocket 38 associated with the foot section 2i. The head section 24 also lncludes. a discharge chamber 39 having a front leg or feed section 43 discharge opening 40 and also preferably includes a dribble plate 4! forming the bottom and rear portion of the chamber 39, which operates to gather material and direct it to the discharge opening 40.

Attention is now directed particularly toFigs. 1 and 2 of the drawings and to the construction 01 the'feed section 22 and the foot section 2i. ,The feed section 22 is provided with a hopper or feed chamber 42 which communicates with an opening in the top of the return run 26 as formed by Said feed section 22. Material delivered to the hopper 42 will pass through the bottom opening thereof and into the adjacent portion of the return run 26 by which it will be conveyed rearwardly along what is a short working leg or feed section 43 though it is structurally essentially a portion of the return run 26.

The material fed through the short working by the conveyor mechanism 30 is delivered to the feed chamber 44 formed by the rear end of the feed section 22 and the front portion of the foot section 2|, and it is obvious that material delivered to said feed chamber 44 will be fed by the working or conveying run of the conveyor mechanism 30 into the working or conveying run 25 of the casing 20 by way of communicating opening 45.

It has been found in practice that some material, particularly large lumpy material, of which bituminous coal of the size of two inches or thereabout may be an example, ofttimes tends to bind particularly adjacent the Opening by which the short working leg or feed section 43 communicates with the hopper 42, and a similar action has been found to take place where the working or conveyor run 25 communicates with the feed chamber 44 by way of opening 45.

To overcome this objectionable characteristic and to prevent damage either to the casing or to the endless conveyor mechanism 30, I have provided certain special construction now to be described.

It will be seen by reference to Fig. 2 of the drawings that the overall height and consequently the cross-sectional area of the short feed section 43 is greater than the height and consequently the cross-sectional area of the return run 26. It will also be seen that the opening leading to this short feed section 43 from the hopper 42 is controlled by a drum or roller 46 which is shown more in detail in Figs. 5 and 6 of the drawings. The drum 46 is mounted on a shaft 41 which extends through elongated slots in the side walls of the hopper 42, and the opposite ends thereof are received in slidable bearing blocks, one ofwhlch is seen at 48. Said block 48 is provided with an integral bolt 49 which extends through an aperture in an angle bracket 50 mounted on a side plate of the hopper 42 and provided with an adjusting nut 5i. A coil spring 52 surrounds the bolt 49 and abuts the bracket 50 and thus urges the roller 46 to a minimum opening positionof adustment. It is obvious that as the flights 32 travel toward the roller 4B,'said roller is free to give and move upward against the action of the springs 52, or one of them, ln'case any large particle of material becomes lodged between the upper edge of the flight 32 and said drum or roller 46.

Since the short feed section 43 has an appreciable height as compared with the height of the working or return runs 25 and 26, any large particle of material which passes the roller 46 can pass freely through said short feed section 43 and into the chamber 44. The top portion of said short feed section 43 is preferably provided at each side with a wear strip 53, the bottom. of which will be ad acent the upper edges 35 of the flights 32, and thus will keep the flights held down to the partition 28 forming the bottom of said return run 26 as .well as the bottom of the short feed section 43.

The two aforementioned plates 28 and 29 lead to a transversely extending casting 54 which extends transversely between the vertical side walls of the section 22 and is bolted thereto by a transversely extending bolt 55 (see Fig. 9). The

Monaco bottom of the casting 64 is provided with a removable serrated or toothed tool or blade 66 which forms a sharp serrated edge along the top of the opening 45 leading from the feed chamber 44 into the working run 25. The sharp tool or blade 56 may be considered as a materialoulling tool since it cooperates with the flights 32 to shear oif, lift up or push down any large particle of material which is caught between the flight 32 and said tool, thus preventing large particles of material from becomingcaught between a flight and the casing which might cause damage to the conveyor mechanism or to the casing.

In Fig. 4 of the drawings I have illustrated different mechanism for controlling the feed from the hopper 42 into the short teed section 43, as well as modified means for controlling the feed from the feed chamber 44 through the opening 45 into the working leg or run 26. In this modification the hopper 42 instead of having the drum 46. has a transversely extending casting 58 adjacent the opening which leads from the hopper 42 to the feed section. 43 which at its lower edge carries an adiustable out-of! plate 53 which may be adjusted up and down by virtue of elon ated slots therein and co-operating nuts and bolts 60. Behind the cut-off plate 69 in the direct on of travel of the material, is a transversely extending pivoted opening controlling plate 6| which is pivoted to the casting 58 by a. pin 62 (see particularly Fig. 7 of the drawings).

Coiled about the pivot pin 82 is a biasing spring 63, one end of which abuts the casting 58 and the other the reverse side of the plate 6! and urges the plate 6| to the minimum opening full line position illustrated in Fig. 4 of the drawings. which is the extreme counter-clockwiseposition to wh ch it is permitted to move by irtue of co-operating stop means between said plate 6i and the casting 58. It is evident that the plate 6i can pivot to relieve any pressure thereon created by a large lump of material be ing caught between its bottom edge and a flight 32, and the maximum upward position of the plate at is illustrated in dotted lines in Fig. 4 of the drawings.

Also in Fig. 4 of the drawings I have illustrated a different form of culling tool as a substitute for the casting 54 and tool or blade 56. This tool is in the form of a pivoted casting 64 (see particularly Figs. 11 and 12 of the drawings), which is pivotally attached to a pin extending between the side walls of the section 22. The bottom forward edge of the casting 64 provides a transverse knife edge 66 which of course forms a cutting tool or blade to shear off any large particle of material caught between it and a flight 32 as the material passes through the opening 45 from the chamber 44 into the working leg or run 25. The casting 64 is urged to the minimum opening position illustrated in Figs. 4 and 11 of the drawings by means of a pair of coil springs B'I'Whlch are wrapped about the pin 65, with one end of each abutting an interior web of the casting 64 and the other end abutting the plate 28. It is obvious that the casting 64 not only will shear off any largeparticles, as above described, but it is free to swing in a counter-clockwise direction against the tension of the springs 61 to relieve a jammed condition by increasing the size of theopening from feed chamber 44 to working leg 25. It is, of course, evident that the tool 64, 65 may be substituted for the tool 54, 56, etc., and vice versa.

To review briefly the operation of 'the apparatus as disclosed, particularly in the form illustrated in Fig, 2 of the drawings, material to be fed, such as granular material of which bituminous coal is one illustration, will be delivered to the hopper 42 and will pass through the open bottom thereof intothe opening formed in the return run 26 of the casing 20. This material will then be conveyed rearwardly in the direction of the arrow, through the short feed section 43 by way of the opening provided between the hopper or feed chamber 42 and said feed section 43, the size of which is controlled by the drum or roller 46. Should any material be caught between the upper edge 35 of a flight 32 and the roller 46, the roller will be free to roll as well as to move upwardly, which will have a crushing action on the materialwhile at the same time allowing it to move into the short feed section 43 from which it will discharge into the feed chamber 44 as it passes over the upper end of the casting 54. Said material will then flow by gravity in the feed chamber 44 into the working run of the endless chain conveyor mechanism 30. Said conveyor mechanism 30 then carries the material forward to the opening 45 and into the working leg 25 and thence throughout the length of the working leg 25 to the discharge chamber 39 where the material is discharged through the opening 40.

The culling tool or knife 56 adjacent the opening 45 will shear ofi any large particles that may become caught between said blade and a flight 32, or in some instances the blade 56 will merely depress the material as it moves along, or in other instances the blade will catch the lower side of the material and lift it up whence it will again how into the path of said conveying mechanism 30.

In any event it is evident that binding between the flights 32 and the casing is prevented at those points where binding normally occurs, particularly with material which includes relatively large particles having the size, for example, of two inches or greater. As a consequence, material of this type may be efficiently and safely handled without damaging the conveyor casing or endless chain conveyor mechanism.

The operation of the apparatus as illustrated in Fig. 4 is essentially the same as, that above described except, of course, the plate 6! instead of rolling the material which tends to bind, merely swings under the influence thereof, while at the same time exerting pressure thereon, tending to push the material down or to reduce it.

The tool 64, 65 is similar to the tool 54, 56 ex-- cept that it has the additional feature of being pivoted to swing, and the cutting edge thereof is shown as a straight edge rather than a serrated or toothed edge, though if desired it may also be serrated or toothed. The pivotal movement of this tool 64, 65, of course, gives it added relief characteristics since in case a very hard particle becomes caught between aflight and the tool edge, it will not be necessary to cut it, but the tool can release by swinging on its pivot.

It may also be pointed outthat the novel conveyor mechanism presents flights 32 each of which sweeps only part of the cross-sectional area of the working leg or run 25 as well as the return leg or run 26, but due to the alternate arrangement of succeeding flights, substantially the entire cross-sectional area of each of said runs is swept by the conveyor. In other words, there is an overlapping of the trailing edges of alternate or successive flights. The outer edges of the flights are preferably leading and it is evident that successive flights lie in intersecting planes.

asaavoo It is therefore evident that, viewed in one light, there is a continuous sinuous or zig-zag path of material extending from the feed opening 45 of the working or conveying leg or run 25 to the discharge chamber 39 which will provide for some slippage between the conveyor mechanism 80 and the material, under extreme conditions of overload.

Obviously those skilled in the art may make various changes in the details and arrangement of parts without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the claim hereto appended, and I therefore wish not to be restricted to the precise construction herein disclosed.

Having thus described and shown an embodiment of my invention, what I desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

A conveyor including a casing havin enclosing working and return runs, chain conveyor mechanism having flights which traverse substantially the entire cross-sectional area of said working and return runs, a feed hopper adjacent one end of the return run where material is fed thereto and conveyed reversely, a feed chamber rearwardly of said hopper adapted to receive said reversely fed material by way of a short feed section of the return run and feed it to the working run, said short feed section having a cross-sec=- tional area greater than the normal cross-sectional area of the return and working runs, cut on and culling means movable under the influence of material to vary the eifective size of the opening between the feed chamber and said working leg, said cut 0!! and culling means including a swingable member pivoted adjacent its top, said swingable member having an arcuate bottom, a

working leg.

PAUL v. wm'mrzv. REFEItENCES orrnn The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 808,067 Briggs Dec. 26, 1905 1,018,421 Jackson Feb. 27, 1912 1,404,985 Lower Jan. 31, 1922 1,618,721 Norman Feb. 22, 1927 1,620,838 Seigle et a1. Mar. 15, 1927 1,637,601 Bussey Aug. 2, 1927 1,674,634 Brueggemann June 26,1928 1,714,116 Williams May'21, 1929 1,977,513 Holbeck Oct. 16, 1934 2,007,874 Redler' July 9, 1935 2,135,665 Hoban Nov. 8, 1938 2,170,934 White -1 Aug. 29, 1939 2,339,491

Lemmon Jan. 18, 1944 

